Repaint

[CONMAN]

I just recently purchased a midstates from a gentleman in Virginia. Would like to one day repaint a color I like. Is there an assembly manuel available so I would know where to start disassembling?

[zipzip]

I don't think there's a written manual. There's a lot of choices made by the owner as to equipment & options, so there is a lot of variability in the "manual". There shouldn't be a lot of work involved in getting the car ready for paint though - I'm going to be doing that this fall. I'm planning on taking off all the chrome and putting on some boneyard wheels and sending it off to the painter.

Let me know if you have any specific questions; I can help with examples from my car hopefully.

[CONMAN]

Thanks for replying.
I thought it would make a nicer job if the body was removed and painted.
Not sure.
Especially where bolts and fasteners are located without starting to blindly rip things off if not needed.

[zipzip]

The body would come off easily.... provided all the "little" stuff is removed. I have a lot of little clips and miscellaneous things fastened to the body that would make it a pain to take off. Not to mention the wiring harness that goes from one side (inside) to the other (engine side).

Depending on how far they carried the old color into the engine compartment, I would think you're better off to remove all the outside hardware and let them go. You should be able to remove everything that would be a pain to paint around: headlights, bumpers, windshield, hood handles, side vents, wipers, gas cap, tail lights, roll bar, etc. The paint shop should be able to tape up everything else. I think the only pain may be the sidepipes. Yours may be removeable depending on how they were connected to the headers.

If your wiring doesn't allow removal of the lights, get some good connectors like weatherpak's and cut the wire. Install the connector and voila, removeable lights...

[double ugly]

I disassembled my Hi Tech for body work and paint. The obvious items that need to be removed are the doors, hood, and trunk lid along with quick jacks/bumpers, windshield, lights, all emblems etc. Not a small job. I don't think I would worry about the wheels. They can be covered as mine were. I also removed the upholstery from the doors. The painter had to remove the steering wheel to have access to the cowl. On my car the headers had to be loosened to get the side pipes off. It took two guys a full day. Reassembly took 2.5 days mostly because of the side pipe/header issues.
John

[CONMAN]

Thanks guys for all the help. I understand what you mean about taking off the body. It will make it more simple to leave on. Again, thanks